I stink. I’m tired. Obviously there are showers, but when I get in to camp I just shove food in my face, crank out a blog, and pass out in my tent…only to wake up and repeat. Everyone is like “Ew,” and I’m like “Listen, bitches, I’m aware, but I just don’t care.” That said, I’ve noticed from past experience that it’s right around this part of AIDS/ LifeCycle that everyone starts to run out of steam. “CAR BACK!” “RIDER MOVE OVER!” “RIDER COME TO A FULL STOP PLEASE!” We’ve past the 400 mile mark and cyclists are mega cranky pants, our spandex is on just a little too tight.

And then someone hands me a candle.

“What happens is remarkably organic,” says Jim Key, the L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center’s media and public affairs officer. “There’s no structure to it, it just sort of happens by itself.” The sun goes down. All goes quiet. At camp in Ventura, all 2,200 cyclist take a candle and walk to the beach. I’m not sure what to call it, other than breathtaking. People weep, names are whispered and the beach becomes a glowing circle of cyclists the size of a football field. It’s our past, present and future meeting up in one massive orb of love. We stand there, silently remembering our losses grasping the scope of our accomplishment and looking forward to an end to AIDS.

Tomorrow is the last day of AIDS/LifeCycle 2013. We will be biking from Ventura to closing ceremonies in Westwood.